1. Discursive Psychology & Participatory Research Methods copy.docx

CRITICAL READING: CORNELL NOTES Discursive Psychology & Participatory Research Methods Name: Date: 11 August 2023 Section: Lecture 1 Period: Questions/Main Ideas/Vocabulary Notes/Answers/Definitions/Examples/Sentences What is Discursive Psychology? A fundamentally different type o...

CRITICAL READING: CORNELL NOTES Discursive Psychology & Participatory Research Methods Name: Date: 11 August 2023 Section: Lecture 1 Period: Questions/Main Ideas/Vocabulary Notes/Answers/Definitions/Examples/Sentences What is Discursive Psychology? A fundamentally different type of methodology, with different ontological and epistemological underpinnings. Discourse: Cultural/social/historically located patterns of speech by members of particular groups. Shared patterns of meaning/understanding about phenomena within members of particular groups. Discursive psychology explores these patterns, including how they are understood, formulated ad used. For example: people with refugee background. In the 20th-21st centuries in Australia, discourses have included “people in need of saving”, “illegals”, “queue jumpers”, “hoards”. Discourse as Behaviour Psychology is the scientific exploration of the human mind and behaviour. In discursive psychology, discourse is behaviour. Patterns of speech do things to the worlds (words aren’t just words). Discursive psychology explores: How we communicate with one another. What social goals are accomplished through particular patterns of text or talk. Traditional Psychology vs Discursive Psychology DP isn’t interested in what goes on in the mind. Instead, it is interested in: What talk people use. What discourses are available for them to use. When and where they use a particular discourse. DP begins and ends in discourse. A Continuum of Approaches Conversation Analysis Everyday talk in natural settings. Everything in the conversation has meaning. Systematic organisation of everyday language. Often social constructionist in terms of epistemology – that is – the world is constructed through our interactions with others, and through our shared understandings. For example, you could argue that gender is a social construct. Or even things outside psychology such as money and currency. Critical Discourse Analysis Draws from the work of Michel Foucault. Challenges notions of truth and knowledge, and how truth and knowledge are connected to power. E.g., ideas of sanity and what is normal. Situates language in broader social/cultural settings. Discourse itself carries power. Core Principles of Discursive Psychology Language is: Constitutive: Constructs the reality we live in through shared meanings we ascribe to objects, events and people. Functional: Discourse is a social practice that accomplishes social actions in the world. How is Discourse Analysis Done? Strongly empirical – based on careful observation. Aimed at: Identifying discursive resources and practices. Considering how these resources and practices are shaped by social, cultural and historical processes. Once you have data, you ask: What actions does this talk do? What are individuals constructing in this interaction? How does context affect this account? How do speakers negotiate meaning, dealing with issues that might be contentious or problematic? How does talk draw on normative ideas about the way the world is, particularly with reference to relevant ideological and institutional practices? How are speakers positioned within practices, and to what effect for them and their social world? Look for interpretive repertoires: Relatively internally consistent, bounded language units that can be used as the building blocks speakers use for constructing versions of actions, cognitive processes and other phenomena. A set of metaphors, arguments and terms which are used recurrently in people’s discourse to describe events and actions. Interpretive Repertoires Fact construction: How accounts are made to appear factual, objective and disinterested. For example, “boys are more active than girls” is a fact construction in a social construction about gender. Category entitlement: Warrants the validity of a claim. For example, “Professor Brown, Director of the institute of International Health and Wellbeing at Harvard University, says that the research is now clear that obesity has become an epidemic in countries such as the US and Australia". Stake inoculation: Speakers construct their talk as coming from someone whose stake in that talk is counter to what you would expect. For example, “As a feminist, I used to be skeptical about differences between girls and boys, but my experience as a mother has taught me otherwise”. Active voicing: Active voicing refers to the strategy by which other people’s comments are quoted, to present views and impressions as a reliable and accurate record of what took place. For example, Mary then said to me “Why have you been avoiding me?” and then I said, “I haven’t been avoiding you, I’ve just been really busy”. Vivid description: Rich and vivid detail, careful observation and noticing can enhance the reliability of an account or event. For example, that morning was especially wet and windy, and the traffic lights were working intermittently. When I passed by my neighbour’s house, I noticed that this newspaper was still on the front lawn. Systematic vagueness: In contrast to vivid description, descriptions or accounts that are systematically vague about details and particular features can draw attention away from one’s own stake or interest in the account. For example, there are many causes for poverty and economic hardship, but at the end of day, the poor need to help themselves. Participatory Action Research Critical realist paradigm: Multiple shared realities exist. Objective reality can be known and changed. The concept that people have a right to determine their own development and recognises the need for local people to participate meaningfully in the process of analysing their own solutions, over which they have power and control, in order to lead to sustainable development. Stringer (1996): PAR is democratic: enabling the participation of all people. PAR is equitable: it acknowledges the equity of people’s worth. PAR is liberating: it provides freedom from oppression or debilitating conditions. PAR is life-enhancing: enabling the expression of people’s full potential. PAR Principles Empowerment: Empower marginalised groups. Ownership of information. Capacity building. Decision-making. Trust. Collaboration: Remove researcher/participant hierarchy. Involves, for example, reference groups or steering committees. Change: Geared towards improving social situations, responding to needs on the grounds. Working with communities to enact change. Must be inherently translational. Challenges & Ethics for PAR Challenges: Time and resourcing. Building trust and rapport. Insider/outsider status. Divergence of perspectives within communities themselves. Power imbalances hard to overcome. Ways to do the research. Interpretation of findings. Criticised as a soft approach. Ethics: Ownership of the research. Inclusivity. Permission to do the research. Researcher reflexivity.